Versify meets Storify: My timeline of Melissa Carl’s Pulitzer Remix adventure

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Stacia M. Fleegal

Twice during April, I blogged about Melissa Carl, West York Area High School teacher and accomplished poet, and her participation in the Pulitzer Remix project.

I blogged at the beginning of April, then again at the halfway point. I also repurposed that original post to run in print in the Living section of the YDR, because I wanted the whole of our audience to know about what Melissa was doing.

What Melissa was doing, in fact, was writing truly incredible poems under a rigorous schedule and very strict set of guidelines: A new poem every day, using only words found in a Pulitzer-winning novel. Continue reading →

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NaPoWriMo wrapup, part 1: Exquisite Teens Collaborative Poetry Project

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Stacia M. Fleegal

One of Versify’s projects for National Poetry Month was to do an exquisite corpse collaborative writing exercise with members of the Teen Takeover staff.

Madeleine Nesbitt, Willow Pinkerton and Brady Achterberg enthusiastically volunteered to take up the challenge. I created a closed Facebook group where we could build our poem privately — we didn’t want to share it until the end.

I wrote a weird first line and we were off.

I’ll share the finished product in a minute, but first, Continue reading →

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May Poem of the Month contest

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Stacia M. Fleegal

For the month of May, the Poem of the Month prompt is to write a persona poem, or a poem not from your own perspective. You can write in the voice of a family member, a famous person, a pet or even an inanimate object.

When your poem is finished, copy and paste it as a comment on this post. Be sure to include the poem’s title, your name and your township of residence.

Happy writing!

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Teen Takeover takes on the April Poem of the Month

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Stacia M. Fleegal

Each month, a member of YDR’s Teen Takeover staff writes a poem in response to the Poem of the Month prompt.

Madeleine Nesbitt wrote a great daylight savings time poem last month.

I chose the prompt for April with National Poetry Month in mind: Write a poem that is in some way about poetry. TT staffer Willow Pinkerton’s “To Poetry I Will Give” is a lovely tribute to the art of verse, especially:

Halfway between

A

Story

And

A song.

This is where poetry sits. Continue reading →

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York’s Lynn Fetterolf places second in PA Poetry Society contest

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Stacia M. Fleegal

I missed this — oops — but York’s own Lynn Fetterolf recently placed second (and third, and fourth) in the annual poetry contest sponsored by the Pennsylvania Poetry Society.

From YDR online:

Pennsylvania Poetry Society, Inc. is proud to announce that Lynn Fetterolf of York, was a winner in the PPS Annual Contest. Lynn won second prize in categories No. 5 and No. 17. Her poems will be published in Prize Poems 2013. Lynn also won third prize in category No. 10, and fourth prize in category No. 15.

Congratulations, Lynn!

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Culture and Main, episode 11

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Stacia M. Fleegal

Episode 11 (original air date 4/17/13) features percussion by Louis Woodyard, art by Rita King, poetry by Melissa Carl and teen videographer and clothing designer Dakota Keener.

Don’t miss another new episode of Culture & Main, tonight at 7 on WRCT Ch. 18 or streaming live at wrct.tv!

What did you think of episode 11?

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Update on Melissa Carl’s Pulitzer Remix progress, and a discussion of found poetry

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Stacia M. Fleegal

Previously, I blogged about West York Area High School history teacher and poet Melissa Carl’s participation in Pulitzer Remix, a National Poetry Month project sponsored by the Found Poetry Review.

I thought we could talk a bit more about found poetry, since Versify is having its own Found Poetry Twitter Project, and check in with Melissa.

At just past the halfway point, Melissa said she’s still going strong, though she’s no longer working ahead. Continue reading →

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Culture and Main, episode 10

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Stacia M. Fleegal

Episode 10 (original airdate 4/10/13) features the juvenile jazz band “Time Out” and special concert segment with jazz poet, Rick Kerns, with the Con Alma Trio

Don’t forget to watch a new episode of Culture & Main tonight at 7 on WRCT ch. 18!

What did you think of episode 10?

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New online home base for poetry events in southcentral Pa.: Bookmark The Triangle

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Stacia M. Fleegal

Image courtesy of www.thetrianglepa.com.

Three cities, dozens of poetry events, one website.

Students at Millersville University’s Creative Writers’ Guild have created a website to connect the literary events in the southcentral Pa. “triangle” made by the cities of York, Harrisburg and Lancaster.

Visit www.thetrianglepa.com to learn about what’s going on in words in your town.

From the “About” section of The Triangle’s site: Continue reading →

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Sharon Olds wins Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for ‘Stag’s Leap’

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Stacia M. Fleegal

I’m a long-time, major Sharon Olds fan.

Yesterday, as I was inundated with graphic images and horrific reports from Boston, I learned she’d won the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for a collection of poems called “Stag’s Leap,” which happens to be sitting on my bedside table at this very moment.

I’m in the middle of my third read.

From NPR:

Poet Sharon Olds won the Pulitzer for Stag’s Leap, a collection of poems that resulted, as Tess Taylor wrote for NPR in late 2012, from Olds’ impressions of the end of her marriage. It includes these lines:

“I show no anger but in flashes of humor,
all is courtesy and horror.”

In her review, Taylor said that Stag’s Leap ”moves beyond Olds to offer an alphabet of grieving, to gather a shape of losing, as well as perhaps offering us some clues about beginning anew.”

Congratulations to Sharon Olds for the deserved recognition and honor!

Have you read ‘Stag’s Leap’? If so, what do you think of it? Have a favorite poem or line?

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